News Update05 Nov 2020
CGF’s End-to-End Value Chain Director Ruediger Hagedorn Co-Hosts Academic & Business Partnership SCM for ECR Conference The CGF is delighted to have partnered with SCM-ECR Laboratory in the organisation of their annual conference that took place virtually on 22-23 of October, and to have contributed to the discussions on the Management...
Press Release01 Mar 2016
The Global Food Safety Conference Leads Industry in Tackling Future Challenges BERLIN, 1st March 2016 – This week, the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is bringing together 1,000 leading food safety specialists in Berlin for the 15th annual Global Food Safety Conference (GFSC). Gathered at the...
Press Release28 Feb 2019Food Safety
Preparing for the Future of Food Safety: A Forward-Thinking GFSI Conference 2019 NICE, France, 28th February 2019 — The 18th edition of the GFSI Conference drew to a close this afternoon, after four days packed with insights, productive conversations and opportunities to connect. The event attracted over 1,000 delegates, who represented...
Press Release19 Jan 2017
CGF Forced Labour Initiative Welcomed at Meeting with Pope Francis PARIS, 19th January 2017 – On 13th and 14th January, Peter Freedman, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), participated in the 2017 Rome Roundtable to discuss a variety of topics related to sustainable and inclusive...
Press Release01 Mar 2016
GFSI and UNIDO Move Forward on a Strategic Cooperation for Far-Reaching Food Safety Capacity Building BERLIN, 1st March 2016 – In an exciting move for the food industry, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) are expanding a long-term collaboration into a formal...
News Update10 Nov 2022Industry Solutions
CGF’s End-to-End Value Chain Director Co-Chairs Discussion at the 13th Supply Chain Management Conference at University of Targoviste, Romania Ruediger Hagedorn, Director of End-to-End Value Chain at The Consumer Goods Forum co-chaired a discussion at the 13th edition of the Supply Chain Management for Efficient Consumer Response Conference organised by the European Retail Academy...
Blog09 Jun 2022Healthier Lives
How We Are Collaborating to Positively Impact Customers and Vulnerable Communities in Chicago Through New CHL USA Initiative For more than a decade, The Consumer Good’s Forum (CGF)’s work on health and wellbeing has been driven by a desire to provide consumers with products, solutions, services, and transparent understandable information that empower them...
Press Release03 Nov 2015
GFSI and UNIDO Unite in a New Commitment to Boost Development and Scale Up Food Safety Capacity Building BEIJING, 3 November 2015 – The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) today made a joint declaration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to collaborate on a far-reaching initiative for food safety capacity building...
Press Release07 Apr 2020Healthier Lives
The Consumer Goods Forum Launches New Coalition on Collaboration for Healthier Lives PARIS, 7th April 2020 — The Consumer Goods Forum (“CGF”) has today launched its Collaboration for Healthier Lives Coalition of Action (the “Coalition”) as part of a new global strategy to help its members drive...
News Update05 Sep 2021Plastic Waste
CGF Holds Virtual EPR Event with Ministry of Environment in Colombia and Waste2Worth In late August, The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) held its first online event in Colombia in partnership with the Ministry of Environment in Colombia and Waste2worth. During the workshop, over 200 representatives from different stakeholder...
Blog06 Nov 2019Sustainable Retail Summit
Let Our Words be Followed by Actions In many ways, Berlin is the place to be. The German capital is home to 3.7 million people from 193 countries around the world. It is Germany’s political center, home to universities and academia, the...
Press Release14 Nov 2019Healthier Lives
The Consumer Goods Forum Kicks-Off Latest Initiative to Promote Healthier Lives in Communities Around the World SHANGHAI, 14th November 2019 — The Consumer Goods Forum is pleased to announce the official launch of the latest Collaboration for Healthier Lives (CHL) initiative in China in September 2019. CHL is a key initiative...
News Update27 Nov 2019Food Waste
Environmental Team Attends Latin America Food Waste and Loss Summit At the end of September, The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Latin American team spoke at the Latin America Food Waste and Loss Summit (Cumbre Latinoamericana de Pérdidas y Desperdicios de Alimentos) organized by the Food...
News Update03 Jul 2020Healthier Lives
‘On s’y met’, The Collaboration for Healthier Lives (CHL) Initiative in France, Shares Learnings from Its Very First Geotargeted Collaborative Digital Campaign Following the recent launch of two local CHL reports, the UK and China, the French team have today published their digital report, focusing on the initial learnings from the very first geotargeted collaborative digital campaign,...
Blog16 Oct 2020Health & Wellness
Is it Working? A Closer Look at Our Collaboration for Healthier Lives UK Initiative in the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark In the UK, despite a world-renowned public health system, being healthy can be difficult for some. The COVID-19 lockdown hasn’t helped, as a lack of physical movement, school closures and limited access to healthy snacks...
Press Release29 Jan 2021Food Safety
New GFSI Podcast Series to Explore Food Safety, Industry Action and Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues PARIS, 29th January 2021 – The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) today launches its all-new GFSI Podcast Series. The series will welcome food safety experts from across the spectrum of sectors and stakeholders that form...
STANDARD: The BRCGS Global Standard for Ethical Trade & Responsible Sourcing Issue 2 achieved SSCI Recognition under Scope AI — Social Compliance: Manufacturing & Processing in November 2021.
BRCGS is an established global standards leader, with a rigorous GFSI recognised assurance program that touches every aspect of the 21st century supply chain – from food ingredients to packaging, distribution, retail and beyond. It sets the benchmark for best practice manufacturing, helping to provide reassurance that products and services are high quality, legal and safe. BRCGS is recognised across food and non-food categories as the global standard underpinning brand reputation through compliance, at over 30,000 certificated sites in 130 countries. Visit brcgs.com to find out more.
Fairness, Integrity, Safety, and Health (FISH) Standard for Crew
STANDARD: FISH Standard for Crew Version 1.0 achieved SSCI Recognition in March 2025 for Scope CI — Social Compliance: At-Sea Operations.
The Fairness, Integrity, Safety, and Health (FISH) Standard for Crew is a voluntary, third party labour certification program for wild harvest fishing vessels. FISH is designed to provide harvesters a tool to demonstrate to customers and other stakeholders that the seafood harvested comes from responsible sources with respect to crew treatment, compensation, and conditions. It was developed with input from the full seafood supply chain, including large and small harvesters, processors, retailers and restaurant groups, in consultation with labour non-profit organisations, to create a program that is open to vessels and fleets of all sizes around the globe. Read more about the Standard here.
STANDARD: The Florverde standard for the sustainable production of flowers and ornamentals version 7.2.1 achieved SSCI Recognition under Scope BI – Social Compliance: Primary Production in April 2024.
Florverde Sustainable Flowers (FSF) is an independent social and environmental standard which ensures that flowers certified under this scheme have been responsibly produced. This requires flower growers to adopt measures that will protect and enable worker’s rights, implement best environmental practices, and comply with national regulations. FSF also helps safeguard quality by requiring the proper care and handling of flowers.
STANDARD: FSSC 24000 Social Management System Certification Version 6.0 achieved SSCI Recognition under Scope AI — Social Compliance: Processing and Manufacturing in January 2024.
The aim of FSSC 24000 is to ensure that social sustainability management system requirements are met, resulting in certifications that assure organisations provide safe and fair working conditions, meet business ethics requirements, and apply due diligence in their supply chain management. FSSC 24000 provides a strategic approach incorporating the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle and risk-based thinking, which ensures the identification and control of social risk and continuous improvement. This process demonstrates corporate responsibility and facilitates improving the social management systems and performance thus driving impact.
FSSC 24000’s scope of certification includes the manufacturing and processing sector (food and non-food), including its related service provision. The certificate confirms that the organisation’s social sustainability management system is in conformance with the FSSC 24000 Scheme requirements based on the following normative documents:
BSI/PAS 24000:2022 – Social management system requirements (Publicly Available Specification)
FSSC 24000 Additional Requirements (as determined by the FSSC Board of Stakeholders)
The FSSC 24000 certification scheme is owned and governed by the non-profit Foundation FSSC and outlines the requirements for the audit and certification of a Social Sustainability Management System of an organization. More information on the FSSC 24000 Scheme is available on their website.
Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard
STANDARD: The Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard 2.1 achieved SSCI Recognition under Scope CI — Social Compliance: At-Sea Operations in November 2022.
In 2018, Global Seafood Assurances and the UK Sea Fish Industry Authority (Seafish) announced a memorandum of understanding to work together to create the next version of the Responsible Fishing Scheme (RFS), committing to expand its global applicability, which resulted in the creation of the Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard. Now part of the Global Seafood Alliance, GSA took ownership of the standards last year. The first RFVS-certified vessel was announced in Australia in January, and the second set of RFVS-certified vessels was announced in the United Kingdom in April. The standard addresses social responsibility, including working conditions and worker voice, about fishing vessels.
STANDARD: The SIZA Social Standard Version 6 achieved SSCI Recognition under Scopes AI — Social Compliance: Manufacturing & Processing, and BI — Social Compliance: Primary Production in June 2023.
SIZA, the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa, is enabling the South African agricultural sector to become a global leader in sustainable farming, ethical trade, and environmental stewardship. The aim is to encourage continuous improvement in practices over time. SIZA aims to have a cost-effective approach for growers by supplying one standard and one audit, no matter which market a producer supplies. SIZA engages directly with stakeholders throughout the value chain to improve supply chain sustainability, ensuring compliance and reducing risks while at the same time offering support and training with regard to best practices and continuous improvement. Verification occurs via third-party audits. For more information on SIZA, please visit our website: www.siza.co.za
Wine and Agricultural Ethical Trade Association (WIETA)
STANDARD: WIETA Standard Version 4.0 achieved SSCI recognition under Scope AI — Social Compliance: Manufacturing & Processing, and BI — Social Compliance: Primary Production in January 2025.
The Wine and Agricultural Ethical Trade Association T/A WIETA was the first South African social standard, established in 2002, to establish an appropriate social auditing methodology for fruit and wine suppliers in South Africa. WIETA proudly demonstrates how a multi-stakeholder model can successfully promote a world class ethical trade and human rights programme within the wine value chain. Innovative social dialogue engagements, a rigorous capacity building and training programme for both workers and producers, coupled with a participative multi-pronged approach to auditing and remedial approach to ensure sustained corrective actions.
Founded in 2003, the amfori BSCI enables companies to drive sustainability by setting up the human rights due diligence principles that business enterprises strive to implement in their global supply chain.
Representing over 2,400 participants in 46 countries, the amfori BSCI operates in a variety of sectors, the two largest being General Merchandise, and Garment & Textile with a combined annual turnover is evaluated to EUR 1.6 trillion.
The amfori BSCI Code of Conduct set out the values and principles for the implementation of supply chain due diligence, based on the OECD’s six-step framework. The amfori BSCI System Manual outlines the supporting tools and methodology for participants to exercise human rights due diligence and environmental protection set out in the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct.
Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA)
STANDARD:The Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) is currently being benchmarked under Scope BI – Social Compliance: Primary Production.
Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association (EHPEA) is a business membership organisation which was established in 2002. It is an organisation meant to promote the interest of its members who are engaged in the production and export of cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, herbs, cuttings as well as vegetable seeds.
STANDARD: The KFC Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standard Version December 2021 is currently being benchmarked under Scopes AI — Social Compliance: Manufacturing & Processing, and BI — Social Compliance: Primary Production.
Kenya Flower Council (KFC) is the country’s leading Business Membership Association for growers and exporters of cut-flower and ornamentals. KFC members account for approximately 80 percent of Kenya’s floricultural exports.
KFC also owns the Flowers and Ornamentals Sustainability Standards (FOSS), a trusted standard worldwide. It is one of only three internationally benchmarked standards that demonstrate sustainable social, environmental and good agricultural business practice benchmarks set by the EU-based Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI). The standard encourages commitment to ethical practices, innovation and promoting equitable trading practices, thus ensuring that certified producers foster sustainable, responsible and safe production of cut flowers and ornamentals.
The Council is in the forefront promoting Kenya as a reliable source of quality cut flowers and ornamentals and the country’s competitiveness in the global floriculture trade. KFC is actively engaged in all major trade negotiations in existing, new and emerging markets and in amplifying Kenya’s image in the international market as the most trusted source of cut flowers and ornamentals.
Currently, Kenya is the third largest producer of cut-flowers and ornamentals in the world and exports to over 60 destinations globally. Floriculture is the fastest growing export sector in the Kenyan economy, providing direct employment for over 200,000 workers.
KFC engages with key actors locally for a favourable business environment for growers and exporters of cut flowers and ornamentals.
STANDARD: The MPS-SQ Standard is currently being benchmarked under Scope BI — Social Compliance: Primary Production.
MPS, owned by Stichting MPS, is a leading organisation dedicated to supporting sustainability in the agricultural sector through its trusted certification schemes. The MPS-SQ Standard, introduced in 2002, is designed to ensure that agricultural products are produced under good working conditions. The standard applies to growers and their entire company, addressing key areas such as employee working conditions, health, and safety. It is built on universal human rights, the codes of conduct of local representative organisations, and international agreements of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The MPS-SQ Standard also ensures fair treatment for family members working in family-run agricultural operations and sets minimum requirements for working conditions, encouraging compliance with stricter national, local, or international laws to provide the highest level of worker protection. By promoting ethical labour practices, My MPS aims to improve worker safety, health, and well-being while enhancing the image of the agricultural sector. MPS is applying for SSCI’s Scope BI — Social Compliance: Primary Production, reaffirming its commitment to advancing sustainable and responsible practices across the agricultural supply chain.
The Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standard, is designed to deliver more value to the more than four million farmers and workers and thousands of businesses that use Rainforest Alliance certification to drive more sustainable agricultural production and responsible supply chains. The Sustainable Agriculture Standard is used in more than 70 countries around the globe. Their program focuses on coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas, and many other important commodity sectors facing urgent environmental and social challenges.